the taste to resemble sturgeon. We experienced on that day an excessive
heat, the mercury being at 94° of Fahrenheit. From the 8th to the 11th
we had on board a canary bird, which we treated with the greatest care
and kindness, but which nevertheless quitted us, probably for a certain
death.

The nearer we approached to the equator the more we perceived the heat
to increase: on the 16th, in latitude 6°, longitude 22° west from
Greenwich, the mercury stood at 108°. We discovered on that day a sail
bearing down upon us. The next morning she reappeared, and approached
within gun-shot. She was a large brig, carrying about twenty guns: we
sailed in company all day by a good breeze, all sail spread; but toward
evening she dropped astern and altered her course to the S.S.E.

On the 18th, at daybreak, the watch alarmed us by announcing that the
same brig which had followed us the day before, was under our lee, a
cable's length off, and seemed desirous of knowing who we were, without
showing her own colors. Our captain appeared to be in some alarm; and
admitting that she was a better sailer than we, he called all the
passengers and crew on deck, the drum beat to quarters, and we feigned
to make preparations for combat.

It is well to observe that our vessel mounted ten pieces of cannon, and
was pierced for twenty; the forward port-holes were adorned with sham
guns. Whether it was our formidable appearance or no, at about ten A.M.
the stranger again changed her course, and we soon lost sight of her
entirely.

Nothing further remarkable occurred to us till the 22d, when we passed
the line in longitude 25° 9". According to an ancient custom the crew